Mental health campaigner Mike King has created controversy with his comments about alcohol.
Photo: RNZ / DOM THOMAS

Mental health advocates question whether the government funded a man or a kaupapa.

Labor is calling on the Coalition to suspend its $24 million investment in mental health campaigner Mike King’s Gumboot Friday initiative after he said alcohol was the “solution” to mental health problems.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB on Wednesday, King said alcohol was not a problem for people suffering from mental illness, going so far as to suggest alcohol did more good than harm – he later clarified the comments by saying it was not a cure, but it is not the cause either.

In a Facebook video purporting to explain his comments, King said he went on Newstalk ZB to comment on police opposing an alcohol license for a mental health fashion show fundraiser of Dunedin, describing it as “overcoming the nanny state”.

Since then, Dunedin’s district licensing board has granted a special license for alcohol sales at the Dunedin event, which raises money for a suicide prevention charity.

Mental health charity – Hauora Aotearoa founder Jase Te Patu questions whether it’s appropriate to have Mike King as the face and the person behind the government’s mental health response.

“I really wonder if it is run by kaupapa. It should be about kaupapa.

“At the end of the day, the question has to be asked, does I AM HOPE and Gumboot Friday still exist if Mike King is no longer a part of it, and if the answer is no, then it’s about the man and not about kaupapa and that’s problematic for me” .

Te Patu said he used to run his organization based on his own journey and what he had achieved, but he changed the model to be about what they stand for, not the person behind it.

Adding to the problem was that because of government funding, King had by default become the person people looked to as a leader but didn’t speak out, he said.

“Mike King has de-stigmatized mental health and mental distress and I want to congratulate him for bringing something to the fore that needs attention.

“But by default to get so much money in terms of funding with a big, big piece of the funding pie, it means he has more responsibility in that space as a rangatira.”

Labor wants the government to suspend investment in King’s mental health initiative after his comments, but Prime Minister Christopher Luxon accuses Labor of playing politics with mental health by criticizing the militant.

Luxon said he disagreed with King’s comments but agreed with the work King’s Charity does and his government’s investment in it.

Mike King has often described himself as an alcoholic, and in the most recent clarification of his comments he said in the past that he used “wasting” as a way to avoid the “inner critic” in his head.

Jase Te Patu has now been sober for almost eight years and understands the pain that comes from hiding your mental distress with alcohol.

But he also understands the added weight that comes from working in mental health, with mental health issues.

“Having lived experience means you go through this thing that you help people heal from, but lived experience also gives you this added responsibility, that ‘thing’, and in this particular case, with Mike talking about alcohol . In this way, that it can be a rongoa or a cure for people who are going through mental suffering, I feel it’s really dangerous.”

Te Patu said he was concerned about the impact King’s words and slow clarification would have on the rangatahi and struggling youth.

“That’s what I mean when I say ‘He mana tō te kupu’, your words, they have great mana, especially as someone leading in this mental health space.”

the RNZs Morning report and Control point have approached King for interviews since he made his initial comments Wednesday, but he has declined.